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ED 261 959 SO 016 847 AUTHOR Endo, Russell TITLE The Current Status of . PUB DATE Jun 85 NOTE 20p.; Paper presented at the Southwest Forum on Minority Group Research (Denver, CO, June 1985). PUB TYPE Viewpoints (120) -- Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Acculturation; Economic Factors; Economic Status; *Japanese American Culture; *Japanese Americans; Social History; Social Problems; Social Science Research; *Social Status; Stereotypes ABSTRACT A study of the current status of Japanese Americans is divided into three sections. Following a brief introduction, a background section provides an overview of Japanese American history, population size and socioeconomic measures, and selected social characteristics. A second section looks in greater depth at socioeconomic status as reported in findings of the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the United States Bureau of the Census. Among the findings are the greater tendency of Japanese Americans than White Americans to have two-income families, lower median incomes, high median education and overrepresentation in fields such as science and engineering. Also considered are characteristic social problems and the question of. assimilation. Common conceptions of Japanese Americans as having few social problems and assimilating easily are refuted. In the conclusion, the author states that the positive image of Japanese Americans has certain negative consequences in that it validates the American idea of equal opportunity and obscures important social problems facing Japanese Americans. (LP)

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." The Current Status of Japanese Americans

by

Russell Endo University of Colorado. and Colorado Institute of Social Research

..[\\ ;1N This paper was prepared for presentation at the Southwest Forum on Minority 8roup Research, Denver, June 1985. Direct all correspondence tol Russell Endo, Colorado Institute of Social Research, Bow 12079, Boulder, CO 80303

2 SSW COPY MALAWI The Current Status of Japanese Americans

INTRODUCTION

Japanese Americans are among the least understood minority groups in the United States. From the late 1800's through World

War II, they were frequently stereotyped as evil, devious, greedy,

dishonest, subversive, immoral, inscrutable, and unassimilable.

Then, as now, some people also had difficulty distinguishing between Japanese Americans and Japanese in Japan. During the war,

this mistaken identity resulted in Japanese Americans being

interned in concentration camps; currently, this confusion makes

Japanese Americans a target of hostility arising out of economic competition between the United States and Japan. Some people today assume that Japanese Americans are identical to Chinese,

Koreans, and other Asian groups in the United States and that all of these groups live in tourist-oriented communities with temples, restaurants, and shops filled with curios, strange works of art, and exotic foods.

More knowledgeable individuals are likely to have a different contemporary image of Japanese Americans, an image of a group which has attained high levels of education, occupation, and income, has few social problems, and is rapidly assimilating.

Japanese Americans are apt to be admired because they seem to have achieved all of this on their own through their intelligence, patience, hard work, thrift, and resourcefulness and their emphasis on strong families, community support, and education.

This favorable image has received much attention in American

NW COW AIPAPALE 2 magazines and newspapers which now characterize Japanese Americans as a "successful ." However, this depiction is superficial and vastly oversimplied. And, while this image is positive, it has certain negative consequences which are not readily apparent.

A complete picture of the present situation of %);apanese

Americans requires a closer examination of their current socioeconomic status, social problems, and assimilation. These areas will be investigated after a background overview of Japanese

American history, population size and summary socioeconomic measures, and selected social characteristics.

BACKGROUND

History

The bulk 04 Japanese immigration to America took place from

1890 until a ban was imposed by the United States in 1924.

Although most migrants initially intended to return to Japan after a few years, large numbers later sent for wives and eventually decided to settle in America. Migrants usually came from rural backgrounds and were attracted to America by economic opportunities. They generally went to Hawaii or the Pacific

Coast, especially California.

At first, migrants worked as laborers. Subsequently, a high proportion moved on into farm proprietorship, fishing, gardening, or small urban businesses such as hotels, markets, cafes, dry goods shops, and restaurants. Ethnic communities were created by the immigrant generation, the Issei, which included economic,

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social, political, and religious organizations and intricate

networks of family, friendship, and business ties. The second

generation, or , were born from 1910 through the 1930's.

Both the Issei and Nisei were the victims of intense

discrimination and organized anti-Japanese movements supported by

politicians, newspapers, and labor organizations. Japanese

Americans fought back with strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, and

lawsuits. Anti-Japanese agitation peaked at the beginning of

World War II when 110,000 Japanese Americans, too-thirds of whom were American-born Nisei, were removed from their homes and sent

to concentration camps.

After the war, the Nisei used their considerable energies and education to move into good occupations, including professional and technical positions. During the postwar period, the third generation, or Sansei, were born. For more information on

Japanese American history and communities, see Kitano (1,976) and

Wilson and Hosokawa (1980).

Size and Symmmry Socincondmic Menges

Japanese Americans are one of several Asian groups in the

United States, each of which has distinct cultural characteristics, communities, and historical experiences. Besides the Japanese, the major Asian American groups are the Chinese,

Filipinos, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Asian Indians; other Pacific and Southeast Asian peoples make up the remainder. Asian

American groups are concentrated in Hawaii and along the Pacific

Comet, but large numbers are also in the East and Midwest. The

1980 Census counted 812,178 Chinese, 781,894 Filipinos, 716,331 4

Japanese, 357,393 Koreans, 245,025 Vietnamese, and 387,223 Asian

Indians (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1983a).

According to the 1980 Census, Americans of Japanese descent

are scattered throughout the United States although they are

primarily located in Hawaii (239,734), California (268,814),

Washington (i.7,389), Illinois (18,432), New York (24,754), and several other Western States (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1983b).

Japanese Americans predominately live in metropolitan areas, and

large communities can be found in Honolulu, , San

Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and . Between 1970 and

1980, the Japanese American population grew by 21%, much less than

other Asian American groups such as the Chinese (142%), Filipinos

(128%), and Koreans (417%) (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1983a).

This growth in the other groups was due largely to th& influx of new immigrants. In contrast, relatively few individuals migrated

from Japan to the United States. According to the U.S.

Immigration and Naturalization Service (1980), immigration from

Japan between 1970 and 1980 averaged only about 5,000 persons per year.

Certain summary measures from the 1980 Census (as well as earlier censuses) suggest that Japanese Americans have attained

impressive levels of education, occupation, and income. These summary measures are commonly cited by those who view Japanese

Americans as a successful model minority. In 1980, Japanese

Americans age 25 and over had a median educational level of 12.9 years compared with 12.5 years for the entire U.S. population.

Furthermore, 28% of the employed Japanese Americans age 16 and 5 over had professional or managerial occupations and 347. had technical or sales positions compared with 237.. and 307. respectively for the U.S. population as a whole. Also, the median family income for Japanese Americans was $27,354 compared with

$19,917 for the entire U.S. population (U.S. Bureau of the Census,

1983a). While these summary measures reflect important achievements, they do not represent a complete picture of the socioeconomic status of Japanese Americans, as will be discussed below.

Selected Social Charactgrigtigs

The 1980 Census provides much useful information on Japanese

American families. About the same percentage (84%) of Japanese

American families as all U.S. families are husband-wife units, but a higher proportion of the former are extended families. Compared with all U.S. families, Japanese American families have lower fertility rates, are on average about the same size (3.2 persons), and are less apt to have children under age 18(477. versus 52%)

(U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1983a).

Other evidence exists which suggests that Japanese Americans are assimilating. This evidence is frequently noted by those who see Japanese Americans as a successful model minority. For instance, Japanese Americans no longer experience the extensive discrimination of earlier years. Most Japanese Americans are second, third, or even fourth generation descendents of immigrants who first came to the United States seven or eight decades ago;

Japanese Americans therefore have been in America long enough to be well-assimilated. Also, the small numbers of recent immigrants 6

from Japan have not revitalized Japanese American communities and

culture. Indications of assimilation can be found in the greater

Japanese American participation in social, business, civic,

political, and religious groups outside Japanese American

communities, the increasing numbers of Japanese American

friendships with nonJapanese Americans, and the postwar movement

of many Japanese Americans into mixed or predominately white

residential neighborhoods (Montero, 1980). In addition, the rate

of Japanese American intermarriage has reached 60% in several

areas including Los Angeles and Hawaii (Kitano et al., 1984), and

only 15% of Japanese Americans speak Japanese as their usual

language (Lopez, 1982). Although the above evidence points to a

degree of assimilation, like the summary socioeconomic measures it

does not present a complete picture of the contemporary status of

Japanese Americans.

TOWARD A MEANINGFUL PERSPECTIVE

As seen in the previous section, Japanese Americans have made

socioeconomic progress and undergone important changes. However,

this should not be exaggerated so that the present status of

Japanese Americans is viewed in a simplistic fashion. This

section will examine additional material on the socioeconomic status, social problems, and assimilation of Japanese Americans to provide a more meaningful perspective on their situation in the

United States.

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Socioeconomic Status! Another View

A number of studies have gone beyond the summary measures of

Japanese American education, occupation, and income described

earlier. The results of these studies are very extensive, and

only the most important conclusions will be examined here. This

discussion will rely primarily on reports by the U.S. Commission

on Civil Rights (1978, 1979, 1980) and the U.S. Bureau of the

Census (1983a).

The high median family incume of Japanese Americans does not

necessarily indicate economic success. Japanese American families

are more likely than white families to have more than one income-

earner. Often this additional earner is a woman; Japanese

American females have a higher rate of labor force participation

than white women. Japanese Americans also work more than whites;

the former have lower unemployment rates. Japanese Americans are

concentrated in urban areas, particularly in California and

Hawaii, where wages and salaries (and living costs) are higher.

In these areas, Japanese Americans usually have lower median

incomes than whites. In addition, Japanese Americans earn less than whites when taking into account education, occupation, age, amount of time worked, and State of residence. One study has shown that Japanese American males and females with the same characteristics as white males and females earn only 88% and 58% of the amount earned by white males and females respectively.

The percentages of Japanese Americans in professional and technical occupations are significant. However, Japanese

Americans are underrepresented in many sectors of the American 8

economy. They are overrepresented in scientific and engineering

fields and underrepresented in such areas as the mass media,

entertainment, the creative arts, politics, manufacturing, skilled

crafts, wholesale trade, and construction. Also, Japanese

Americans tend to be overqualified for their Jobs in terms of

education and experience; in other words, they are frequently

underemployed. One aspect of this is that even in professional

and technical occupations, Japanese Americans are predominately in

lower or mid-level positions and rarely in top managerial or

executive posts. The preceding occupational patterns may reflect

discrimination in hiring and promotion. Finally, fewer Japanese

Americans own businesses than in years past, and most of these are

small retail trace or service enterprises that are autside the

mainstream of American business.

The high median level of education for Japanese Americans is

somewhat misleading because education contributes less to income

and occupation for Japanese Americans than whites. In conclusion,

it should be noted that summary measures of education, income, and occupation mask the diversity of the Japanese American population.

Summary measures make it easy to overlook the 10% of Japanese

Americans age 25 and over with less than a high school education

in 1980, the 7X in poverty or the 197.. with annual incomes of less than $10,000, and the 32% in clerical or service Jobs.

Social eroblems

In some respects, the social problems of Japanese Americans today are less severe than those of their early history.

Nevertheless, the continuing existence of social problems

10 1111IT COPYAVAILAIIii 9

indicates that Japanese Americans are not necessarily a successful

model minority. Japanese Americans face problems in areas like

health,, mental health, housing, employment, education, the mass

media, and social services for the elderly, recent immigrants,

youth, and the Japanese wives of U.S servicemen. One general

issue related to many problem areas is discrimination.

Discrimination is often subtle and difficult to measure, but it

persists, for example, in the exclusion policies of private social

clubs, the reluctance of some employers to hire or promote

Japanese Americans, the omission of Japanese American history and

contributions from school textbooks except in cursory or

inaccurate treatments, the media stereotyping of Japanese

Amer;cans, and the neglect of Japanese American needs in social

service and economic assistance programs and policies. Some discrimination manifests itself in verbal or physical hostility or

in stereotyping and discourteous behavior during social

interactions. Particular acts of discrimination may be directed only against Japanese Americans or exhibited toward all Asian

Americans and even all minority groups.

Information an social problems is available from numerous sources including the U.S Commission an Civil Rights (1979) and

Enda et al.(1980). Since it is not possible to cover this subject in detail here, brief comments will be made about three problem areasl the elderly, mental health, and media stereotyping.

About 7% of the Japanese American population is age 65 or over, and this proportion is expected to rise dramatically aver

11 SOT COPYAVAILMILII 10

the next two decades. The elderly, especially Issei, frequently have housing, transportation, health, nutrition, and recreation

needs. In many cases, these needs are met by family members.

However, the elderly often have few other resources. A large

number are poor; in fact, Japanese American elderly have, on

average, lower social security incomes than white American

elderly. Furthermore, most social agencies do not provide

accessible and culturally-relevant services (Ishizuka, 1978).

Like other , Japanese Americans experience mental health problems ranging from minor feelings of depression, stress, or alienation to serious disorders. These could be caused by life changes and crises, cultural conflicts, or discrimination.

In general, the incidence of problems may be associated with socioeconomic status, degree of assimilation, and area of residence. The elderly, recent immigrants, the poor, and the

Japanese wives of U.S. servicemen are high-risk groups. The rates for major problems are hard to determine as mental health facilities are underutilized. These facilities are frequently not designed to offer culturally-apiropriate services for Japanese

Americans or other Asian American groups (Sue and Morishima,

1982).

All Asian American groups, including Japanese Americans, are the victims of stereotypes. Stereotypes are prominent in movies and on television, although they similarly can be found in books, magazines, newspapers, cartoons, and comic books. Asian Americans are commonly caricatured as individuals with slanted eyes, buck teeth, and yellow skin who have difficulty speaking English.

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Often they are depicted as sneaky, cunning, corrupt, and cruel characters who inhabit crowded, mysterious communities filled with crime, drugs, and violence. Asian American women are repeatedly portrayed as docile, submissive, exotic, and sexy. Even as positive characters, Asian Americans are typically misrepresented as quiet, humble, passive, uncomplaining, and dependent.

Stereotypes are actually only one facet of problems with the media. In most cities, television news and documentary coverage of Asian American groups is minimal. And few Asian Americans have successful careers in the television or movie industries, particularly as reporters, actors, and high-level executives

(Wong, 1978; Iiyama and Kitano, 1982).

One final observation. In the last few years, physical violence against Asian Americans, including Japanese Americans, has increased to the point where it is being investigated by the

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. For Japanese Americans, one aspect of this violence has to do with American economic relations with Japan. The United Statet imports large quantities of manufactured goods such as automobiles from Japan. Many people blame these imports for unemployment and other problems in

American industries. Because some individuals have difficulty distinguishing between Japanese in Japan and Japanese Americans, much hostility is directed at the latter.

8211.811BUQUI antrac Yitv

While Japanese Americans appear to be assimilating as pointed out above, several studies show that they maintain significant features of their ethnicity. The main results of this research 12 will be overviewed here. This review will be based largely on work by Johnson and Johnson (1975), Johnson (1977), Conner 1976),

Kendis (1979), Masuda et al.(1971), and Endo (1974, 1985).

Japanese Americans, even Sansei, continue to adhere to values and norms that have their roots in traditional Japanese culturel for instance obligation, discipline, flexibility, and perserverance. These values and norms get expressed in distinctive behaviors. For example, there is a characteristic style of interaction that occurs among Japanese Americans which has elements like emotional control, nonaggressivenessl sensitivity to the feelings of others, use of indirect methods to deal with problems, reciprocity, and the structuring situations to leave everyone a way out if disagreements arise. Within families, distinctive behaviors emphasize elements such as solidarity, mutual dependence, and obligations. Japanese Americans also continue to maintain a strong sense of ethnic identification and pride. Even the children of intermarriages between Japanese

Americans and white Americans often develop an identity as

Japanese Americans.

Though Japanese Americans, especially Nisei and Sansei, have strong friendship ties with nonJapanese Americans, most have close

Japanese American friends and desire a mix of friends. Similarly,

Japanese Americans participate in nonJapanese American organizations but many are active in predominately Japanese

American associations. A large proportion of Japanese Americans have a preference for residential neighborhoods with both whites and Japanese Americans. Most Japanese Americans maintain networks 13

of social ties with other Japanese American kin, friends, and .

coworkers. In some areas with no residential concentrations of

Japanese Americans, these networks help Japanese Americans sustain their awn groups and activities.

Since the late 1960's, there has been a significant revival of interest by Japanese Americans in themselves. This revival has been stimulated by the social activism of blacks and other minority groups, and it has two related features. One is a renewed sense of Japanese American identity. The other feature is a greater amount of community involvement. Community involvement has taken several forms. For some, it means working with existing

Japanese American organizations and activities. For others,

involvement is the development of commercial and cultural centers like Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. For many Japanese Americans, involvement means the establishment of new programs and the use of protest strategies to address social problems and discrimination.

This social activism frequently includes other Asian American groups who have similar concerns and it has come to be identified as part of a broad Asian American movement.

The activities associated with the Asian American movement are very diverse. Efforts. have been directed toward creating

Asian American studies programs at colleges and universities.

These programs offer classes and conduct research an the history and communities of Asian American groups. Attention also has been given to the development of community-based services including health clinics, legal services, mental health centers, bookstores, newspapers, media collectives, education programs, civil rights 14

groups, and specific services for youth, the elderly, women, and

recent immigrants. In many of these fields, service-providers,

administrators, and researchers have joined to obtain government

grants, hold conferences, and create regional or national

organizations. In addition, creative artists such as writers have

formed networks and promoted their work as contributions to new

cultural patterns.

The Asian American movement has been instrumental in

stimulating Asian American professional associations in fields

like psychology and business, greater interest by Asian Americans

in electoral politics, and more political protest and advocacy by

Asian American groups in general. Two examples of the latter are

efforts by Asian Amerian groups to deal with increasing levels of anti-Asian violence and by Japanese Americans to obtain government compensation for their World War II internment.

CONCLUSION

A close examination of the socioeconomic status, social problems, and assimilation of Japanese Americans makes it clear that the image of this group as a successful model minority---one which has high levels of education, occupation, and income, has few social problems, and is rapidly assimilating---is superficial and overdrawn. And even though this image is positival Japanese

Americans are concerned about its inaccuracy because this image has certain negative consequences. The perceived progress of

Japanese Americans is used by some people to validate the American ideology of equal opportunity and to defend America's treatment of

11111111L COPY MALAWI 15 all of its minority groups. Also, the perceived assimilation of

Japanese Americans is used by some individuals to suggest that minority groups must become like whites in order to be successful.

In other words, assimilation is used to justify the superiority of white American culture and society.

There is another negative aspect to the image of Japanese

Americans as a successful model minority. To the extent that it is accepted, even by Japanese Americans themselves, it obscures important social problems that require immediate attention and hampers efforts to ameliorate them. Unfortunately, the image of

Japanese American success has made it more difficult for Japanese

Americans to obtained needed assistance, for instance from government grants, programs, and services designed for minority groups.

Two obvious but important general conclusions can be drawn from an investigation of the current situation of Japanese

Americans. First, the process of assimilation is extremely complex. Much research is being done on Asian American groups to reconceptualize this process or on alternative perspectives

(Kagiwada, 1982/38; Hurh and Kim, 19841 Chong and Bonacich, 1984).

The experience of Japanese Americans indicates that more attention should be given to forces that promote the persistence of ethnicity.

A second general conclusion is that the idea of minority group "success" needs to be reexamined. Measures of education, occupation, and income alone provide a very narrow view. For

Japanese Americans, success goes well beyond the attainment of a 16 particular standard of living. Success is measured in terms of full equality, complete acceptance by others, participation in all important facets of American society, and the freedom to maintain distinct ethnic patterns. By these criteria, there is still much that remains to be accomplished. 17

REFERENCES

Cheng, Lucie and Edna Bonacich (eds.) 1984 Labor Immigration Under Capitalism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Conner, John 1977 Tradition and Change in Three Generations of Japanese Americans. Chicago, IL: Nelson Hall. Endo, Russell 1974 "Japanese Americans: the 'model minority' in perspective." In Rudolph Gomez it al. (eds.), The Social Reality of Ethnic America. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath. 1985 "The Japanese of Colorado: a sociohistorical portrait." Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 31 (December). Endo, Russell et al.(eds.) 1980 Asian Americans: Social and Psychological Perspectives. Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books. Hurh, Won Moo and Kwang Chung Kim 1984 Korean Immigrants in America. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickenson University Press. Iiyama, Patti and Harry Kitano 1982 "Asian Americans and the media." In Gordon Berry and Claudia Kernan-Mitchell (eds.), Television and the Socialization of the Minority Child. New York, NY: Academic Press. Ishizuka, Karen 1978 The Elder Japanese. San Diego, CA: Campanile Press. Johnson, Colleen 1977 "Interdependence, reciprocity and indebtAness: an analysis of Japanese American kinship relations." Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 39 (May). Johnson, Colleen and Frank Johnson 1975 "Interaction rules and ethnicity: the Japanese and Caucasians in Honolulu." Social Forces, vol. 54 (December). Kagiwada, George 1982/83 "Beyond internal colonialism: reflections from the Japanese American experience." Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, vol. 10 (Fall/Winter). Kendis, Kaory 1979 The Persistence and Maintenance of Ethnicity Among Third Generation Japanese Americans. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. Kitano, Harry 1976 Japanese Americans, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Kitano, Harry et al. 1984 "Asian American interracial marriage." Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 46 (February).

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Lopez, David 1982 Language Maintenance and Shift in the United States Today! The Basic Patterns and Their Social Implications. Vol.IV: Asian Languages. Los Alamitos, CAI National Center for Bilingual Research. Masuda, Minoru et al. 1973 The ethnic identity questionnaire' a comparison of three Japanese age groups in Tachikawa, Japan, Honolulu, and Seattle." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, vol. 4 (June). Montero, Darrel 1980 Japanese Americans! Changing Patterns of Ethnic Affiliation Over Three Generations. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Sue, Stanley and James Morishima 1982 Asian American Mental Health. San Francisco, CAI Jossey-Bass. Wilson, Robert and Bill Hosokawa 1980 East to America. New York, NY; Morrow. Wong, Eugene 1978 On Visual Media Racism: Asians in the American Motion Pictures. New York, NY! Arno Press. U.S. Bureau of the Census 14B3a Census of Population! 1980. General Social and Economic Characteristics, United States Summary. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1983b Asian and Pacific Islander Population by State; 1980. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 1978 Social Indicators of Equality for Minorities and Women. Washington, DC! U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. 1979 Civil Rights Issues of Asian and Pacific Americans! Myths and Realities. Washington, DC! U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. 1980 Success of Asian Americans: Fact or Fiction? Washington, DC! U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service 1980 1980 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Washington, DC! U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.